Final Jeopardy: Names in the News (7-28-16)
The Final Jeopardy question (7/28/2016) in the category “Names in the News” was:
This 52-year-old went through a temporary growth spurt, growing 2 inches in less than a year, as revealed by a 2016 physical.
New champ Barbra Resnick won $8,399 yesterday. Today she tries for a second win against these two players: Katrina Ice, from Louisville, KY; and Todd Gonzalez, from Rochester, NY.
Round 1 Categories: Clues Across America – Sounds Like a Star Wars Character – Honorary Harlem Globetrotters – The Book Biz – Major Sports Teams’ Name In Common – Onomatopoetic Words
Todd found the Jeopardy! round Daily Double in “Star Wars Characters” under the $600 clue 2 picks after the chat. He was in the lead with $2,000, $400 more than Barbra in second place. He bet $1,000 and he was RIGHT.
River, people or dynasty of China. show
Todd finished in the lead with $4,800. Katrina was second with $3,800 and Barbra was last with $3,600.
Round 2 Categories: Welcome To Monaco – African-American Literature – Classical Compositions by Century – History – Depressing Quotes – Crossword Clues “B”
Katrina found the first Daily Double in “Depressing Quotes” under the $2,000 clue on the 9th pick of the round. In second place with $5,000, she had $1,800 less than Barbra’s lead. She bet $2,500 and took a guess with “writer.” That was WRONG.
F. Scott Fitzgerald said “Show me” one of these characters “and I will write you a tragedy.” show
Todd found the last Daily Double in “Classic Compositions” under the $1,200 clue. There were 5 clues left after it. He was in the lead with $16,000 now, $7,200 more than Barbra in second place. He bet $2,000 and he was RIGHT.
Mozart’s “Don Giovanni” show
Todd finished in the lead with $18,400. Barbra was next with $9,200 and Katrina was in third place with $1,300.
Only ONE of the contestants got Final Jeopardy! right.
“NASA’s Jeff Williams told CNN that Scott Kelly grew 2 inches during his time aboard the International Space Station. It was expected, and it’s temporary, Williams said. “Astronauts get taller in space as the spine elongates,” Williams said, “but they return to preflight height after a short time back on Earth.”” (CNN.com)
On TheVerge, Loren Grush writes that Scott Kelly’s trip also made him younger: “Sign me up for the next trip to the station, because space is by far the best plastic surgeon.”
Katrina drew a blank. She lost her $301 bet and finished with $999.
Barbra got it right. She doubled her score to $18,400, putting her in a tie with Todd.
Then Todd’s response was revealed: the Statue of Liberty. He bet $1.00 and that is what he lost the match by. Barbra’s 2-day total is $26,799.
Two triple stumpers:
ONOMATOPOETIC WORDS ($800) 4-letter spelling of the word the OED says is imitative of “the sound made in clearing the throat”
HISTORY ($1600) Born in 1746, this Polish patriot fought in America’s war for independence & is called the “Hero of Two World”
2 years ago: Only ONE of the players got this FJ in “Bestselling Books”
This novel is dedicated to Esther Earl who died of thyroid cancer at 16 & never got to read it. show
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I didn`t realize there had been a change in the rules,and didn`t understand why Todd bet as he did. Even so,he was smart enough to double her $ ,and should have the confidence he could beat her again. Really feel sorry for him.
I am going to attempt to find the answer to this, but I’ll ask in the case that someone might recall: when was the last time there was a tie on a (non-tournament) game of Jeopardy?
Oct. 13, 2014
I was just coming over to tell you that they were betting to tie so much that I put in a bet to tie tag. LOL!!
I might not have added it to every match where they did it, but as many as I could find at the time. There are 2 more games after the 13th on that tag
Thank you, VJ… I hope that the tiebreaker rule is put into use someday, though. (As well as the no-one-makes-it-to-FJ scenario).
Todd wagering anything more on the DD would have been a lock game outright and he’d have won. Barbara benefitted from that. WOnder if someone else in the future will come on the show, be in a situation where they have half the leaders total and bet all but $1, assuming the leader will bet $1 and maybe be wrong.
I think that Todd was afraid of wagering more on the DD because, in the case that he answers incorrectly, there would be the chance of him losing his lead.
It is a very interesting concept: When do you take risks, and how small or large should those risks be? Different types of players have different approaches to the concept, but the excitement that comes from watching players take those risks is one aspect that makes Jeopardy the type of entertaining show it is.
But I digress…
Assuming the rest of the game after the DD played out the same way. To lock the game for sure, he would have to bet to get double her amount, plus 1, plus all of the values of the clues left. With 5 clues left, that anount might have cost him the lead.
In this situation, I would strongly advocate a wager of 15799 for the leader. The 1 wager gives the same chance to win, but with a much lower payoff. The zero wager makes the leader a sitting duck. For example: lets assume that the winning player generally gets 2/3 of FJs correct. By the leader betting zero, the player in 2nd has a 2/3 chance for a face-off and a 50 % to win that, so a 1/3 chance to win the game. This means the leader has a 2/3 chance to win (the same chance of getting the FJ correct), but with a much lower payoff. By betting the 15799, the leader’s expected value also rises by 1/3 of that amount. It’s noteworthy that generally the higher the expectation is for a correct answer, the more powerful the non-zero bet becomes, hence it should rise to the maximum (but still eliminating the 3rd player).
Basically, if the leader perceives there to be less than 2/3 correct, the zero bet is advocated. Again, game theory only deals with likeliness of winning, not the expected value. I’m sure Keith will validate this later (unless he gets it wrong, lol).
Even having what knowledge I do on mathematics and game theory, the topic(s) can be a bit complicated, so let me ask you a question for the purpose of clarification:
To phrase what you said a little differently, there are cases where, if you are in Todd’s situation and you believe that you are playing a strong opponent, your odds are better by trying to beat them the first time rather than tie and risk losing to them in a follow-up match?
Now knowing that there are tiebreakers… scratch that previous question.
If by strong opponent, you mean someone who is very likely to get FJ correct, and you believe yourself to be relatively strong then yes.
Say you believe there to be a 70% chance that your opponent will get FJ correct. That means the opponent’s chance of winning is (at least ) 35% (you must assume 50-50 at best for a tie-breaker). That gives you a 65% to win (assuming 3rd is locked out). But if you think your chances are 65% or better, you should just go ahead (plus you will win more!)
If they are 80%, you should go at 60%: 90, then 55.
Now I just question at what point we cross the line from strategy to mind games…
Maybe I’m just rambling.
Oh, lol, I just saw that Mathwiz.
Jacob what is this about a tiebreak question? I swear in the past a tie has resulted in two players winning and advancing to the next game.
I think that Jacob is thinking of tournament rules… not like we have ties often on this show, period.
There just are no ties anymore. This is straight from Jeopardy!’s 4 Rare Scenarios page
“1. Tie Breakers. There can only be one winner. This has long been the case in tournament play and was recently adapted into regular game play. A tie at the end of Final Jeopardy! sends the game into a tie-breaker clue.”
They adapted it into regular play after the contestants began playing for ties a lot on purpose.
VJ, thanks. I was going to ask you to link the Jeopardy rules changes. This is scary. You’re reading my mind. 🙂
@Mathwiz, I left you a message over on Spoiler Talk below the video links. Be sure to read it.
Thank you for the info, VJ… I was unaware of that rule change because, again, there aren’t many ties on Jeopardy, period.
Based on that logic, Todd should have bet more than a dollar… unless he wanted to take his chances with the tiebreaker clue.
It wasn’t Katrina’s day, but she did have a moment in the Star Wars category where she got a thumbs up from the judges on the Romulus and Remus clue and Trebek said that Gnomie had been to that hill in Rome. That shows he does listen to the chat stories.
That clue and 9 others are over here now
Once again, Barbra should not have won the game… but we’ll get to that in a moment.
By the way, glad to say that all went well today… if only I could say the same for our contestant Katrina…
These categories look interesting, though if they’re as easy as the DDs… guess I can ask ahead of time, actually… @VJ: What did you think of today’s clues?
About the Wrong Answers: Katrina drawing a blank is expected. After all, “you either know it or you don’t”. As for Todd…
The Statue of Liberty… are you kidding me… and then, instead of wisely playing to tie, he bets a dollar… I’m sorry. Just… thank goodness it’s the last week of the season.
Well, as the saying also goes, “a win is a win”. Now to hope that the season ends on a great note, and hopefully with a great FJ.
@Mathwiz, The clues weren’t particularly hard, imo. I was kind of looking forward to the Depressing Quotes category, mistakenly thinking they would be humorous. However, I did know them, including the FSF DD.
The game did start off a little rough, you’ll see, but there really weren’t all that many stumpers
I’m sure that Steve Stoffle can sympathize with Todd about this because on March 21st, 2016, Steve was leading into Final Jeopardy! with $13,600, while Melissa Spencer was in 2nd place with exactly half his total: $6,800. Melissa got it right and correctly doubled up to $13,600, which put her into a tie with Steve, who got it wrong, risked $1, and lost by $1 to Melissa. Tough luck, Steve!
Steve Stoffle, if you’re watching this, please show some sympathy with Todd!
Todd, I truly understand. You did not want to respond to a tiebreaker clue so you wagered $1. It never crossed your mind that you might be wrong in fj.
The SOL 52 years old. Really? Try 130 years old. Best of all, we now give physicals to statues?
Congrats Barbra on your 2nd win. I am otherwise speechless.
I could not agree with you more, Jacob…
Ironically, my words from earlier come back to bite me: “if Barbra wins, it will be shocking”.
Jacob, your analysis completely excludes the possibility that Todd may have thought that if he were likely to get FJ wrong, then Barbra would likely also.
True, Eric.